Blood Is a Stranger

by Roland Perry

  Burra collected his rifle and jumped into his ute.

  ‘Get Topfish, Blina, and Murra Murra,’ he ordered his son. ‘Head for the mine! Tell them to take rifles!’

  ‘I want to come with you,’ Silas said. Burra was alerted by the sound of a car coming uncertainly down the road. It was Tom Beena’s XJ6 Jaguar. It wobbled to a halt at Topfists’s shack about a hundred metres from them.

  ‘Get in!’ Burra said and drove up to the Jaguar. Beena was helping Topfist out. They were both drunk.

  ‘We’ve been celebratin’,’ Beena said as he shouldered the other man to his front door and dumped him on the doorstep. He began banging on the door.

  Burra leapt out of the ute. He was furious. He pulled the bigger man around to face him. ‘Been at the club?’

  Beena staggered towards his car to pull a second Aborigine out, another of his drinking companions. ‘You should have seen the crowd tonight.’

  Burra stopped him from dragging the second black to the door. ‘You did this deliberately! You knew about the bloody airlift!’

  ‘Fuck you!’ Beena snarled.

  Burra threw a punch that collected him on the jaw and lifted him off the ground. He fell hard against the wooden porch. Burra straddled him. Beena lifted his head once but then slipped into unconsciousness. Burra slapped him.

  Silas ran to restrain his father. ‘Let him be, Dad. He’s pissed out of his brain!’

  Burra brought the older man round. ‘Who else did you con into going to the club?!’ he demanded. Beena grimaced.

  ‘All your mates are there,’ he said. ‘None of them will be able to help. The bloody yellowcake is gonna fly off like a bird.’ He made a waving motion with his hands, and Burra grabbed him by the shirt.

  ‘You may not live to gloat over this,’ he hissed.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Burra said to his son. ‘We’ll have to tackle this alone.’

  Burra ran to his car and drove to the mine road checkpoint. The barrier was down, and three armed guards challenged him as he wound down the window.

  ‘Bit late to come callin’, Burra,’ a man with a cork-rimmed hat on said.

  ‘I want to see Richardson!’ Burra said.

  ‘Didn’t see his name on the guest list tonight, did you, fellas?’

  The other two didn’t reply.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘No boongs on the list, Dave,’ one said.

  ‘Boongs means all boongs, Burra,’ Dave said. ‘That means elders, police arse-lickers, the lot!’

  The other two sniggered.

  Silas leaned over to his father. Take it easy, Dad. No use getting shot.’

  ‘Get in the back,’ Burra said under his breath. ‘Lie flat and hang on like hell.’

  ‘Dad, no!’

  ‘Do as I say.’

  The boy obeyed. Seeing the movement, Dave stepped forward so that he was not far from the front of the ute.

  ‘What’s going on, Burra?’ he asked. ‘You up to your tricks there?’

  ‘We’re leaving,’ Burra said. ‘Just tell Richardson I wanted to see him.’

  ‘Better get your copper mates to do that for you,’ Dave said, ‘cos I don’t reckon Bull will talk to no boongs anymore.’

  ‘Just tell him,’ Burra said, his voice calmer, ‘nobody wants trouble. We must have dialogue.’

  He began to reverse the ute. Dave lowered his rifle and laughed derisively.

  ‘Dia-bloody-logue,’ he said. ‘Bullshit!’

  Burra pretended to turn the wheel and noticed the other two drop their hands too. ‘Stay down,’ he said to his son.

  Instead of moving in a semi-circle as the guards expected, Burra put his foot down hard on the accelerator and rammed the boom gate. It cracked open. The three guards scattered to avoid being hit by the ute’s front bull bar, and the vehicle skidded through with Burra struggling to control it. Before the guards could recover enough to take aim, the ute was clear, leaving behind it a cloud of red dust.

  The ute careered onto the mine’s bitumen road, which allowed Burra to move into top gear and gun the vehicle hard. Airport lights illuminated a makeshift control tower perched on a hill. The ute came round it as the lumbering plane built up speed for take-off. Burra made straight for it. The plane’s nose tilted up and missed the ute by only a few metres. Burra struggled to keep his vehicle upright before he could brake it to a standstill. Silas crawled into the front. He and his father watched the Hercules struggle for altitude as it lifted its heavy cargo into the clear night sky.

  Vehicles, headed by Richardson in his jeep, converged from every point of the airfield. Lights went on high beam as he put a loudhailer to his mouth.

  ‘You’re on private property,’ he called and the words echoed to the escarpment. ‘I’m going to have you escorted out.’

  Burra drove his ute up close to Richardson. ‘That was the dumbest move you’ve made yet, Bull.’

  ‘What move?’

  Burra leaned forward and let his hands fall to the rifle under the seat. He squinted above the headlights and was soon aware of several rifles pointed at them. He put both hands on the wheel.

  ‘Like I said,’ Richardson growled, ‘you’re on private property!’ His right hand went up in a Hitler salute, which pointed to the direction of the road, ‘Off!’

  Cardinal’s head spun as the nerve-tingling ring of the phone woke him. It was Rhonda.

  ‘What the hell’s wrong?’ Cardinal demanded. He scrambled for his watch. It was two-thirty.

  ‘I’ve just been picked up by the police and interrogated,’ she said shakily. ‘When I got back to the room, they had turned it upside down.’

  ‘I better get over there.’

  ‘No. It’s too dangerous. The curfew is until dawn. As soon as you’re seen here with me, you’ll be marked. They’ll follow you everywhere.’

  ‘The police who stopped us on the road would have reported us tonight.’

  ‘Doubt it. They were ordinary cops. The blokes here were the president’s Gestapo.’

  ‘I’m coming,’ Cardinal said. He hauled on clothes and took the lift to reception. The Indian clerk on night duty was doubtful about a taxi.

  ‘The police are very strict tonight, sir.’

  ‘I’ll pay double the rate,’ Cardinal said. ‘It’s urgent. I want a car right away.’

  ‘One minute,’ the Indian said. He dialled a number. ‘Can you pay in dollars?’

  ‘Sure, just be quick!’

  ‘Sorry, sir, it is dangerous tonight. He wants to know if you will pay twenty-five dollars.’

  ‘Will he bring me back here?’

  The clerk nodded, spoke again and told Cardinal he would have to wait five minutes.

  Cardinal sat on a couch and cracked a knuckle.

  The clerk glanced at him. Cardinal cracked four knuckles, one after another. It disconcerted the clerk. He winced as Cardinal started on his other hand.

  ‘Could you send flowers to Bandung?’ Cardinal asked.

  ‘Of course, sir.’

  Cardinal stepped up to the counter again and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

  ‘Send two dozen roses to Hartina Van der Holland,’ Cardinal said, and showed him the address. ‘The message should read, ‘Please come to Soviet Embassy Party. Look forward to meeting you, Ken Cardinal.’ The clerk scribbled the details.

  The taxi arrived up the hotel ramp, and Cardinal jumped in. The driver was also Indian. The clerk came out and chatted to him.

  ‘Sorry, sir,’ the clerk said. ‘Just telling my brother to look after you.’

  The driver turned the car lights off as they drove down the other side of the ramp. ‘I shall take you an indirect route, sir, through the market, which will take you to the rear of the Borobodur.’

  ‘Okay, fast as you can, friend,’ Cardinal said. He reached for a cigar.

  They drove at no more than thirty-five kilometres an hour with the driver stopping every few seconds to look for patrols. When they had gone about two kilomet
res, they encountered two army jeeps. The driver pulled over and switched off the ignition.

  ‘Head down, please,’ he whispered, but Cardinal was already stretched across the seat. The patrol sped past, and the driver edged out into the road. Another kilometre on, and they were in a deserted market. The driver pointed to a cylindrical building four hundred metres from them.

  ‘That’s the hotel,’ he said. ‘I must stop here. If you stay in the shadows, you will be okay, sir.’

  Cardinal opened the door and flicked away his cigar.

  ‘Could you wait?’ he asked, peeling money from his wallet.

  ‘How long, sir?’

  ‘I don’t know. A half hour?’

  ‘No longer, please, sir. If I’m caught by a patrol . . .’

  ‘If I’m not here then,’ Cardinal said, looking around, ‘go’

  He hurried from stall to stall, keeping in the shadows until he reached an alley. A police car, followed by an army jeep, drove past the other end, opposite the hotel. Cardinal pressed against a doorway as the jeep entered the alley a short distance, its lights on high beam. It waited a minute, and Cardinal could hear voices, then laughter. They had not seen him. The vehicle reversed and con-tinued on.

  Cardinal ran along the alley, up some steps and onto a concourse that led to the front entrance. He looked down to see a tank lumbering along Jalan Thamrin, with soldiers perched on it. They yelled to him, but he did not acknowledge them as he stepped through the revolving door.

  Two people at the reception desk challenged him, but he ignored them. One man came around the desk as Cardinal pressed the lift button. It took him to the tenth floor. He knocked at Rhonda’s room. He heard footsteps inside and then the sound of a safety chain being slipped on. Rhonda looked through the peephole, opened the door and unhooked the safety chain when she was sure he was alone. Cardinal stepped inside.

  ‘I’ve had a strange call,’ she said. ‘Someone spoke in Indonesian, then hung up.’ She sat on a sofa and held her head. ‘I’m petrified!’

  Cardinal sat next to her. ‘Take it easy.’ He looked around. Rhonda’s suitcase was open, and her belongings were stacked beside it. He examined all the windows and looked down on the market below. He could just make out his taxi.

  ‘Only Spider Man could get in,’ he announced and sat beside her.

  ‘I should be so lucky,’ she said. ‘What was the call about?’

  Cardinal shrugged. ‘Pressure. Maybe they just want to scare you.’ He touched her forearm. ‘What sort of questions did the police ask?’

  ‘They wanted to know if I was going to broadcast anything. Had I sent a report back to Australia. Had I been in touch with anyone. They threatened to intern me for insulting the President of the Republic. They claimed it was a serious crime. I was warned never to mention anything personal about Utun. They even said they would track me down in Australia if I stepped out of line there!’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I asked the same thing. They said they had a network of agents there.’

  ‘Have you ever had threats like this before in your work?’

  Rhonda nodded. ‘A few. “I’ll make you sit on my face” type calls. But never anything as scary as this.’

  ‘Are you free to leave?’

  ‘I don’t know. I have to check with my Embassy tomorrow.’

  She wandered to a cabinet. ‘My mouth is so dry. Want a tea?’

  ‘Please,’ Cardinal said.

  ‘You should get out too.’

  ‘But you said I should come here!’

  ‘I know, and now I’m sorry. It’s far more dangerous than I thought.’

  ‘I will stay for that Russian party in two days,’ Cardinal said, ‘just in case I can meet Hartina.’

  Rhonda put a kettle on, and placed tea bags in cups. Her hands were shaking. She poured the water. Cardinal wandered to the window and looked down. The taxi was still there.

  ‘Do you think you’ll be all right?’ Cardinal asked. ‘I’ve got a car waiting down there.’

  ‘Could I ask a big favour?’ she said handing him a cup. ‘Could you stay the night? I’m frightened.’

  Cardinal noticed her hand tremble as she filled the cup. ‘Sure.’ He sat down beside her again. ‘This sofa feels okay.’

  ‘I really appreciate that.’

  ‘Has anyone ever refused to stay the night with you?’

  ‘No,’ she said with a thoughtful frown, ‘but then again, I usually carry a sub-machine gun.’

  Cardinal laughed.

  ‘I’ll get a blanket and pillow,’ she said, moving into the bedroom.

  Cardinal could see a light in the sky. At first he thought it was a low-flying plane.

  ‘Could you turn out the light for a moment? I just want to see what what that plane’s doing?’

  A helicopter was coming towards them. Rhonda came to the window. It vibrated as the helicopter flew closer.

  ‘We use those mothers in the Navy,’ he said. ‘They’re gunships. They have radar “guns” that can see shapes through walls. I didn’t know we had sold them to the Indonesians.’ He had to raise his voice as the chopper flew over the hotel. Cardinal expected the noise to diminish. But it didn’t. The helicopter circled lower and came around below their window level. Then again, above it.

  ‘They must be buzzing this place!’ Cardinal said in amazement.

  They watched in silence as the black machine, gun-barrels rotating, lowered to their level and hovered about thirty metres away. The windows rattled from the vibration. They could just hear the phone ringing. Rhonda looked at him. She picked it up.

  ‘Who is it?’ Rhonda snapped. She had one hand to her ear as the gunship dived lower to about the seventh floor before drifting away to another building, which it also began to circle.

  ‘Thought you would like the company,’ the voice said. The phone went dead.

  ‘More heavy breathing?’ Cardinal asked. ‘They might have just seen the bloody thing in the air around here. They could have called just to imply that they had organised this little scare tactic’

  The chopper swooped over in their direction once more and came level with the window. Rhonda backed away in horror.

  Cardinal grabbed her. ‘Sit down and have some tea.’

  The machine whirred off above them. Cardinal switched on the light.

  ‘Still think it wasn’t co-ordinated?’ she asked, distressed.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. The sound of the machine had died away. It was out of sight. They sat silently for several moments.

  Cardinal looked at his watch. ‘It’s three thirty. We better try to sleep.’

  Rhonda kissed him on the cheek. ‘Thank you for staying,’ she said and slipped into her bedroom. She left the door open and called him to make sure he could hear her.

  Cardinal took off his shoes and socks and hung his feet over one arm of the sofa. He began to relax and drifted off until the room’s stillness was shattered by the sound of the phone.

  ‘I’ll get it!’ he said. Cardinal picked up the receiver. He could hear a telex machine chattering in the background and muffled voices.

  ‘Miss Mills?’ a male voice said. ‘We know you are there, Miss Mills. Just checking to remind you not to leave the hotel.’

  Cardinal could see Rhonda holding the phone in the bedroom.

  ‘Miss Mills?’

  Cardinal waved his hand. The caller rang off. Cardinal left the receiver off the hook and walked to the door.

  ‘They can’t get through again,’ he said.

  ‘What if they come here?’

  He took her to the bedroom window and pointed at the market. ‘It’s four. Nearly dawn. You can see those guys opening up their stalls and barrows. No one’s going to come calling at this hour.’ He put his arms around her.

  ‘Stay in here with me,’ she said, her voice trembling. ‘I’ve never been so scared.’

  Cardinal held her close, reached over and switched off the light.

  ‘
Are you scared?’ she asked as they got into bed.

  ‘More sleepy than scared, but yes, a little nervous.’

  Cardinal touched her affectionately.

  ‘Look, I feel the electricity,’ she said, ‘but I want to remain unplugged at the moment.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘I do want you near.’

  Cardinal eased his arm from around her shoulders and lay on his back. He drifted off to sleep but was awakened by the grip of Rhonda’s fingers on his forearm.

  ‘Ken . . .’ she said, ‘I heard something. I think someone is in the other room.’

  They both listened. There was an intermittent clicking sound. Cardinal eased himself out of the bed, pulled on his trousers and edged to the bedroom door. He caught a glimpse of moving shadows under the door to the hallway. He crept to the peephole. He could see the distorted faces of two men. One wore dark glasses. They both looked down the hallway and began to move off. Cardinal threw back the security chain, fumbled with the lock and rushed into the corridor just as the lift door closed. Cardinal returned to the room, and rang security. An officer promised to search the hotel.

  ‘If they detain you tomorrow night,’ he said, returning to the bed, ‘you better check out of here. Either stay with me or Perdonny.’ Rhonda snuggled close. They both lay in silence, alert to any noises in and out of the room. The airconditioner began making noises like a stifled cough. Rhonda started a couple of times. Then she settled down.

  Cardinal turned to her, gently pushed hair from around the nape of her neck and kissed her. This time she responded more. They kissed and became lost to the terror that had brought them close.

  ‘Burra, I believe you.’

  O’Laughlin got up from behind his desk and walked around to face him. The Aborigine had driven to Darwin for a meeting.

  ‘What are you going to do about it?!’ Burra demanded.

  ‘I have already been onto Canberra,’ O’Laughlin said. ‘They are going to send a government inspector to the mine to check Richardson’s inventory and stocks.’

  ‘So he claims it never happened?!’

  ‘He’s more subtle than that. He says no uranium left the mine. His public relations people have been lobbying on his behalf in Canberra.’